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EDWARDS AFB - NASA aeronautics researchers are looking forward to flying the X-43A research aircraft at speeds up to 10 times the speed of sound later this fall, following a successful "captive carry" dress rehearsal flight from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center on Monday. According to X-43A lead operations engineer David McAllister, who served as test director for the mission, the captive carry flight duplicated all operational functions of the planned 7,000-mph - or Mach 10 - flight and served as a training exercise for staff, except that the X-43A and its modified Pegasus booster were not released from NASA's...

LANCASTER -Antelope Valley College played host to educators and a few NASA Dryden Flight Research Center employees as part of a two-day workshop to demonstrate to the educators how to teach composites technology to their students. Composites are known to many in the "Aerospace Valley" as those materials that make the stealth bomber stealthy and SpaceShipOne a contender for getting a featherweight rocket ship into space. Participants created B-2 bomber models out of shaped foam core and a carbon fiber outer skin. The resultant models measured about 16 inches tall and weighed less than a large apple. The workshop was...

EDWARDS AFB - An experimental aircraft from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center made aviation history Saturday when the unmanned X-43A hypersonic vehicle became the first non-rocket, air-breathing aircraft to fly more than seven times the speed of sound. "Today was a grand slam at the bottom of the 12th," X-43A project manager Joel Sitz said. The successful flight was met with cheers in the Dryden control room and from those gathered to witness the historic event. Nearly three years ago, the first attempted flight of the X-43A ended in failure when the rocket booster went out of control. "I think...

EDWARDS AFB - More than two years after their first unsuccessful attempt, NASA researchers are preparing for a record-setting flight of an air-breathing hypersonic scramjet vehicle. The unmanned X-43A research vehicle is scheduled for a one-time flight Saturday. If successful, its engine will be the first air breather to operate at Mach 7, seven times the speed of sound. "It's taken us 2½ years to get back to this point," said Vincent Rausch , Hyper-X program manager . "What we're talking about this Saturday is an aviation first, an air-breathing engine capable of Mach 7." The X-43A is a small,...

EDWARDS AFB - Someday, aircraft will be able to learn from past experiences and apply that knowledge to make changes in the way they fly. The first steps to that science fiction-like notion are under way at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. "We're edging ever so slowly towards somewhat living, breathing, thinking vehicles of the future," said John Carter, Dryden program manager for intelligent flight controls. "We expect someday almost all vehicles will have some aspect of learning software." An early version of such a system made a flight test last summer on a specially...

The future of supersonic flight is taking shape in the very skies where the sonic boom first signaled the conquest of the sound barrier. This time, however, researchers hope to make a much quieter mark on history. The Shaped Sonic Boom Experiment uses a specially modified F-5E Tiger fighter jet to show that aircraft may be shaped so as to lessen the force of the shock wave created as it goes supersonic, thus producing a quieter sonic boom. "It is the forerunner of the future of supersonic flight," said Northrop Grumman chief test pilot Roy Martin, who piloted the modified...

Marking 100 years of man's success in conquering the skies, 2003 saw milestones for both what has been done and what is yet to come. Celebrations throughout the year culminated in the Dec. 17 anniversary of the Wright brothers' first successful powered flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C., a feat which set in motion changes that are still being felt and improved upon today. In the century since that flight, worldwide air travel has become common; space travel has moved from science fiction to reality; and air power has altered warfare. Although the Centennial of Flight marked a success, the year...

EDWARDS AFB - Fifty years ago this month, A. Scott Crossfield became the first fastest man alive. On Nov. 20, 1953, shortly before the 50th anniversary of powered flight, Crossfield piloted the Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket research aircraft to Mach 2 - twice the speed of sound, or more than 1,290 mph. Crossfield's milestone in aeronautical history came at a time when the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy were pushing the frontiers of flight, flying a stable of exotic experimental research airplances from Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California's high desert. Higher, faster, farther was the mantra as...

EDWARDS AFB - Although it is not involved in the day-to-day operations of the space shuttle program, NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base still will feel the effects of Tuesday's released Columbia Accident Investigation Board report. Agencywide reforms are promised by NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe in response to the recommendations of the accident board. Precisely how those reforms will play out at the individual centers is not yet known, said Bob Meyer, acting deputy director at Dryden. One way Dryden likely will be affected is by an independent safety organization. This safety center, recommended by the...

LANCASTER - The five latest additions to Lancaster's Aerospace Walk of Honor will bring to 70 the number of aviation pioneers honored since the walk's inception in 1990. The experience of this year's honorees - James D. Eastham, Robert C. Little, Bruce Peterson, the late Russell M. "Rusty" Roth and Rogers Smith - all flew in the skies above the Antelope Valley during their careers in a series of firsts. Eastham tested and developed the world's first three Mach 3-plus aircrafts, the A-12, YF-12A and SR-71 Blackbird and Little took the F-101A Voodoo supersonic on its very first flight at...

EDWARDS AFB - A NASA F/A-18 experienced a 29% fuel savings in late June while flying in the wingtip vortex of a DC-8. Both aircraft are based at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. The June 27 DC-8/F-18 flight was an exploratory investigation of large aircraft vortex-induced performance benefits on a fighter-type aircraft. The aircraft flew at 25,000 feet with a separation of about 200 feet nose-to-tail. The F/A-18 slowly moved in laterally to explore the vortex effects. NASA Dryden's Autonomous Formation Flight project earlier studied fuel and drag savings of a trailing F/A-18 aircraft during...

EDWARDS AFB - Living in space can make a person more appreciative of the Earth's variety. It also can increase one's capacity to tolerate hot sauce. Remarks ranging from the holistic to the humorous were downlinked Tuesday from the crew of the International Space Station to a group of educators gathered at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. Teachers attending a workshop at NASA Dryden asked the two-person crew of the International Space Station how being in space has changed their lives. The 25 teachers, representing five schools, are participating in the new NASA Explorer Schools...

At celebrations commemorating the 100th anniversary of powered flight this summer, there will be replicas of the famous Wright Flyer, and there will be many modern examples of flying machines. However, at three events in the Midwest in the coming weeks, there will be an aircraft that combines both. NASA's Active Aeroelastic Wing is an F/A-18 fighter jet modified to use the same wing-warping techniques employed by Orville and Wilbur to control their 1903 Wright Flyer. The aircraft, crew and engineers - based at Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base - will travel to Dayton, Ohio; Kokomo,...

Despite the loss of its $15 million, one-of-a-kind aircraft, the Helios program will continue in its drive to achieve high-altitude, long-endurance flight using innovative fuel cell systems. The remotely-controlled, solar-powered Helios Prototype aircraft was destroyed June 26 when it crashed into the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii during a check flight. Built by AeroVironment Inc. as part of NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology program at Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Helios was preparing for a nearly two-day endurance flight next month. The craft was tested at Edwards and is still managed at Dryden. With a...

LANCASTER - The Wright Brothers may have chosen the wind-swept dunes of Kitty Hawk, N.C., for their historic flight, but in the later half of the first century of flight, it has been the windy skies of the Antelope Valley where aviation history has been made. Nestled at the edge of the natural runway of Rogers Dry Lake, the facility that began as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics' High Speed Flight Research Station evolved into today's NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, making history all the way. "The Antelope Valley should be very proud of its contributions to the first...

LANCASTER - He has flown 240 different kinds of aircraft, logging 16,700 hours of flight time while setting records and performing test piloting feats that are the "right stuff" of aviation history. Contrary to the popular image of high-flying test pilots, however, the one thing that everyone who has met Fitzhugh "Fitz" Fulton notes is his courtly "Southern gentleman" manner. Despite his many noteworthy accomplishments and awards, Fulton remains "so humble," said Paula Smith, executive director of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots. "He always seems surprised when someone honors him." Fulton's already long list of awards was lengthened recently...

From the early days of supersonic flight to the current space shuttle era, NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center has been on the cutting edge of the aerospace frontier. "What we have here is the story of one of the most important institutions in the history of space flight," Dryden chief historian Michael Gorn said. "There are very few throughout the world that have witnessed so many milestones of flight." That storied history will be the subject of a free program at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 30, at the Lancaster Performing Arts Center, 750 West Lancaster Blvd. The evening will feature...